


Subterfuge Is Not Just Veretian (But They Do It Better)

by Just_Another_Day



Series: The Veretian Flytrap Side Stories [2]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Awkward Sexual Situations, Drama, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Nicaise (Captive Prince) Lives, Protectiveness, Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 06:28:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15213191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: Laurent wants to use the circumstances of his unexpected heat to their advantage. And what Laurent wants, Laurent gets.(Or: Damen is so obvious about how bad he has it for Laurent that even a random cloth merchant they meet on the road feels like he has to take pity on Damen and play the part of his publicist.)





	Subterfuge Is Not Just Veretian (But They Do It Better)

**Author's Note:**

> When I asked what spin-offs you'd all like to see from The Veretian Flytrap series, most people said Damen's PoV, and a couple specified Damen's PoV on Laurent's heat in particular. So basically I felt like I could choose from two options where it really made sense to hear Damen's thoughts on the matter. One included no direct contact between the boys during the heat itself, but would have let me explore Damen's deep emotional reactions to having just found out that Laurent had been abused at some point in the past, his thoughts on Laurent for the first time actually trusting him to be anywhere near him during heat and to comfort him afterwards, and his background attempts to get Laurent's soldiers to respect Laurent more rather than less in the wake of him being audibly thirsty for Damen during his heat. And the other had some sex and some Charls. So it's obvious which I was going to choose, right? XD I might yet write the other option someday as well, because it could be quite interesting. We'll see.
> 
> This is set during and after [Chapter 3 of The Bittersweet Fruit of Patience](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10624092/chapters/25231794) and is basically an AU of The Adventures of Charls as it would have taken place in that A/B/O universe. It heavily assumes that you've read both of those stories, because I tried to avoid doing too much direct retelling of things that happened there, so it probably won't make any sense whatsoever if you're not familiar with them. 
> 
> Heads up that the earliest scene can be interpreted as having an undertone of dubious consent about it, just like the chapter it was based on, but consent was freely given beforehand, and the boundaries of that consent are adhered to.

The wagon was clearly designed to carry goods rather than men. Apart from the soft materials with which they'd hastily lined most of the wagon floor, there was little about the ride that could have been deemed luxurious. The worst of it was when they hit a patch of particularly large bumps in the road and the wagon rocked almost dangerously beneath them, throwing an unprepared Damen bodily against the wagon wall with a curse. For his part, Laurent had been pressed securely against the floor where Damen had been hovering over him, so he barely seemed to notice the harsh motions at all except insofar as they pulled Damen away from him. Damen was glad. He could bear far worse than this as long as it meant that Laurent was fine and safe.

There was a distant call of "Sorry!" and the wagon slowed enough that the sudden jolting decreased to manageable levels. Ignoring the points of pain that would undoubtedly develop into bruises, Damen took his opportunity to drag himself back to Laurent's side and half-draped himself protectively over his lover. When Laurent clutched at him, as if afraid Damen would disappear again, even momentarily, Damen was quick to rebury his fingers between Laurent's legs, earning a sigh of relief and a low cry of, "Yes!" in Veretian.

Laurent had been speaking Akielon more and more frequently recently, even while alone with Damen, in order to iron out some of the remaining rough patches in his fluency. Now, though, not a single word of Akielon passed his lips. Even the Veretian was limited to almost indecipherable recitations of 'more' and 'fuck' and 'there'. And, of course, interspersed between those words there was Damen's name, over and over, like a plea.

Damen would have privately admitted to a touch of smugness at having reduced Laurent to such an out-of-control state, if only he were primarily responsible for it. Instead, all Damen wished for was that Laurent could look up at him with unclouded eyes and produce cogent words telling him what Laurent _really_ wanted right now, other than more. Laurent had thankfully at least made it very clear beforehand that he fully desired for Damen to see him through his heat as he had in the past, which eased Damen's conscience about now touching Laurent's body when it seemed that Laurent's mind was no longer quite his own. But Damen felt like he needed some readily apparent reminder that Laurent's willingness didn't truly extend to fucking him even though Laurent, straddling Damen's thighs, grasped Damen's cock and tried to shift his body closer to it, begging, "Knot me."

The plaintive whine that built up in Laurent's throat was, in the end, enough to make Damen recall that Laurent had little conscious control over his words or actions at this point, for Laurent would never have voluntarily made such a sound, and he'd have looked mortified right now if he were capable of feeling such a thing.

Damen had given his word that he wouldn't go too far after he'd almost gotten too caught up in the pheromones and the draw of Laurent's body once, Damen reminded himself. He had no intention of ever breaking any promise he gave to Laurent.

Damen firmly gripped Laurent's hips and forced himself to lift Laurent, not up the length of Damen's body where Laurent wanted to go, but to the side, away. For a moment they broke contact between their bodies entirely except for where Damen's hands rested on Laurent's skin.

"No," Laurent moaned, but his disappointment was quickly cut off when Damen parted Laurent's thighs and pressed his lips directly – without any of the lead-up that Laurent would usually prefer, for they were far beyond that point – to exactly where Laurent had been desperate for the attention of Damen's cock. His tongue might not be equivalent to a knot, but Laurent made pleased sounds nonetheless, especially when Damen put his hands to use as well. 

Damen couldn't pretend to himself that it was close to what Laurent really needed, though. That was made clear by how frantically Laurent kept reaching for him despite Damen's attempts to divert his attention back to his own body, and how he moved his hips against whatever part of Damen's body Damen could tolerate him pressing against without too much risk of Damen losing himself entirely. One of them had to retain some semblance of control.

Laurent's mostly-unfulfilled desperation physically hurt Damen, because he had to wonder whether the drug was making Laurent's needs more pronounced than usual, or whether Laurent had until now been hiding the fact that his heat was always this bad and the drug had simply removed his inhibitions.

"I'm sorry," Damen said, though he doubted Laurent could really understand much apart from the soothing tone of his words. 

Damen couldn't help but indict himself. He could tell himself all he liked that he couldn't have known that Laurent would go into heat right now, since the drug had brought it forward by many weeks. But the fact remained that Damen hadn't been much better prepared for Laurent's previous heats, and he'd so far done nothing to ensure his future heats were different. It wasn't as if Damen didn't know there were objects that could help Laurent with what Damen currently couldn't – or rather, shouldn't – give him; he understood that Akielon omegas who preferred not to bear children every single heat often used them. But whenever the thought occurred to him, Damen selfishly always fell back to hoping: next time, next time, Laurent would allow Damen to care for him as fully as he needed next time, and Damen wouldn't end up being insufficient yet again. 

Laurent would be crowned King in just a few short weeks, and so there was very little holding them back from doing as they pleased at this point except for Laurent himself. Although Laurent was clearly hesitant to admit it, even to Damen, Damen knew that he was still for some reason scared of committing to the things that were expected of him now, like marriage and children. 

Damen had to admit that he hoped Laurent would one day trust both Damen and himself enough to feel able to reach for that kind of future. But Damen would still protect to the death Laurent's right to make that choice whenever he was ready, no matter which way the choice turned out in the end. Which meant that for now he had to make do with straining with his fingers to reach the depths that made Laurent jerk into him, seeking more.

"I'll take care of you," Damen promised, then followed it with: "I love you." It was perhaps the only time he could say those words aloud without risking Laurent spooking like a cornered animal. That was fine – it didn't actually _need_ saying, for Laurent had made his feelings clear enough by following Damen back to Akielos when his own kingdom was already won and caring for Damen when he was nearly fatally injured in Ios – but Damen still liked the sound of it in the air anyway. He couldn't deny that it would have been nice if he could have said it just like that whenever he liked. (And if Laurent would have said it as well without it feeling like Damen had forced him into it.)

Damen had to wonder if Laurent had heard him and processed the words after all, even if it might have been subconsciously, when Laurent took a few seconds' paused from seeking out his own pleasure to instead just curl against Damen, not to thrust his hard cock against Damen's hipbone, but simply to be close to him, and to press his face into Damen's neck so that he could breathe in small but contented huffs of Damen's alpha scent. His chest feeling full to bursting, Damen found himself whispering the words into Laurent's hair again and again, not stopping even once Laurent had apparently decided that cuddling wasn't what he needed after all. He would have let his throat go hoarse from it, if only he hadn't eventually found another use for his mouth.

Damen knew the exact moment when Laurent's wherewithal finally returned to him, not because the scent of him suddenly ceased being so overpowering – their combined smell of arousal would likely take some time to dissipate from the wagon – but because Laurent looked at him with uncertainty for the first time since well before he'd been slipped the drug.

"We didn't…" Laurent started to ask, his voice smaller than Damen thought he'd ever heard it. Damen was glad beyond reckoning that he could truthfully tell Laurent that he'd managed to keep a hold on himself the whole time, just as he'd promised, for he wasn't sure he could have lived with himself if he'd done anything to justify Laurent sounding so unsure.

It broke Damen's heart a little to finally hear Laurent speak of precisely _why_ he was still so concerned about the possibility of Damen fucking him through his heat. But he hurt on Laurent's behalf, not his own, and he tried his best to make that clear. When Laurent reached for his hand, it somehow felt better to Damen than when those same fingers had repeatedly over the past two days gripped Damen's cock.

Those among their people who thought that Damen only wanted Laurent because he happened to be a beautiful omega would have been surprised to learn that Damen far preferred Laurent like this – outwardly composed as he withdrew from Damen's touch so that he could dress himself – as opposed to writhing too-wantonly beneath Damen and begging to take his knot.

When, some hours later, the wagon had halted, Damen heard Charls call out to ask whether they were decent, making it clear that Charls could smell that Laurent's heat scent was fading. Damen made a warning sound at the thought.

"Don't act ungrateful," Laurent chided him, though it was done playfully. "Even if he hadn't already substantially put himself out for our benefit, we're still going to need more assistance from him yet, if we're going to take this opportunity to save our people from being sold across the border."

The way Laurent said 'our people' calmed Damen enough that he didn't protest when Laurent insisted on emerging from the wagon to greet Charls and his assistant, though he wasn't equally willing to let Laurent be the one to check on their ex-soldier captive.

Still, Damen kept a wary eye on Charls, making sure the space between him and Laurent didn't lessen to closer than a polite distance plus a few feet for good measure. The other alpha, Ragenard, Damen didn't allow even that near to Laurent, untying him from the outside of the wagons only so that he could shove him inside the wagon they'd just vacated. He hated allowing another alpha into a space where the air was still thick with the evidence of Laurent's heat, but better that than that he be out on display and inviting questions when they rode into the next village or castle. Damen made sure Ragenard was tied securely, though his rope was left long enough that it wouldn't prevent him from being tossed around the wagon and adding bruises to his sunburned skin. Damen prayed for rough roads over the remaining miles.

They hadn't actually travelled as far as they could have in the past two days, Charls said – which Damen could have guessed judging from the long intervals between the wagons being in motion, but of which Laurent might not have been similarly aware – because the only road that wouldn't have taken them through a heavily populated area would have branched off in entirely the wrong direction, so it had been simpler to spend more time camping out, waiting for the heat to pass.

"We're indebted to you for your assistance and your thoughtfulness in delaying," Laurent said. "If you'll remain for just a day or two in the next village, I'll be able to organise something to make your travels both more comfortable and more profitable in repayment."

Taken aback, Charls said, "Oh, I could never ask for such a thing! You've already provided more than ample payment for our time. And," he added, "I think we will now have to hurry onward to reach the Kyros of Aegina in time."

"Even with a tightened deadline," Laurent pushed, "I swear that the extra wait will be worth your while."

Charls seemed unsure, but he didn't outright disagree, perhaps out of curiosity for what Laurent might have planned. Damen himself was curious; though he at least knew more than Charls, he could never fully predict Laurent.

"I suppose it will give us time for Guilliame to do a full inventory to account for the stock we left on the road," Charls eventually concluded.

The village in question was only an hour away, and while Charls's assistant organised accommodation, Damen and Laurent slipped away to secure a messenger to send back to the camp where their soldiers would still be waiting. The men were probably bemoaning the fact that not only had their King and Prince run off alone without warning _again_ , but that this time they'd disappeared for _days_. They might have even been beginning to worry by this time, but all of them at least knew that Damen would do absolutely anything to ensure Laurent's safety, and vice versa. And they knew that Damen and Laurent had survived worse than anything this region could throw at them, besides.

The messenger sent riding off at a pace, Laurent declared that both of them were in need of a bath before they tried to gather the information they needed from the locals. Damen agreed readily. Laurent's heat scent still clung to him too heavily for Damen's comfort, considering that Damen could immediately pick out each and every alpha gathered in the inn in which they would be staying just from how their heads swivelled towards Laurent, nostrils flaring and eyes wide, the moment the two of them had entered the building.

The baths in the inn were communal, but coins pressed into the right hands – from Laurent's pocket, of course, for Damen had given everything he had on him to Charls in his hurry to make sure Laurent would be sheltered during the worst of his heat – was enough to organise a wooden tub to be sent to their room and then filled with fire-heated water. The tub was by no means large enough to comfortably fit two people in it, especially when one of them was Damen, but they made it work. Laurent leaned back against Damen's chest and sighed as Damen swept his hands over Laurent's wet skin, equally to soothe the shaking muscles left behind in the wake of heat as to wash him.

"You're tired," Damen noted. "You should rest."

"No," Laurent denied. "I should make sure we're prepared to leave as soon as our men get here. Charls has a point; if we run too far behind schedule, we risk being unable to make it from Aegina to Marlas in time for the coronation. That would be a problem when I'm the one set to be crowned, don't you think?"

Even so, Laurent didn't protest when Damen held him inside the bath for perhaps longer than necessary, letting the downtime and the warmth of the water ease Laurent as much as possible before they dressed and got to work.

Despite it being fairly crowded, they found Charls and Guilliame within moments of descending the stairs back into the common area of the inn. Charls didn't seem to even recognise them for a moment, and once he did he went wide-eyed at the sight of Laurent in particular. For a moment Damen thought he'd finally recognised Laurent for what he was, but when Charls made no move to bow to him, Damen realised that this was simply the first time he'd seen Laurent cleaned up and looking utterly composed.

"You're a lucky man," Charls told Damen quietly as Laurent slipped away to speak to whichever staff or patrons he picked out as most likely to be helpful to him, while the remaining three of them claimed a table. "Your husband would almost match the tales I've heard told of the beauty of Prince Laurent of Vere."

"Almost," Damen said, amused.

A servant came to take their orders and was clearly stunned by the amount of food Damen asked her to bring. For his part, Damen was starving after days of having nothing but water, and little enough of that, even, for he'd been hesitant to allow even Charls's beta assistant near their wagon while Laurent was so out of it. He had to imagine that Laurent felt the same kind of hunger, even if he never ate quite as much as Damen, considering their difference in size.

While they waited for both the food to be fetched and Laurent to return, Charls, looking concerned, queried, "If I may ask, where are your children?" 

Damen was brought up short for a moment, thinking of his earlier conversation with Laurent on the matter, before he recalled that, during their previous meeting in Vere, Laurent had specifically suggested they had children waiting for them at home, as would be expected of a married alpha and omega couple.

"They're waiting for us at Marlas," he said, and, thinking of Nicaise complaining about having to ride ahead of them in the company of nothing but Akielons, decided it was barely even a lie. "They're annoyed to have had to travel there separately, but are well cared for."

"Of course," Charls said, placated. "So I take it that means you plan to attend the Ascension as well?"

Damen smiled slightly. "We thought we'd better show our faces."

When Laurent returned, only a minute or two before the plates were put down in front of them, he leaned in close to Damen's side. As if he were whispering sweet nothings into Damen's ear, he breathed, "It would appear that a man who fits the description of one of the slave traders we've heard about has only recently come through here. He's apparently carting orange wagons in the direction of the border."

"Orange?" Damen asked. "Does he want to draw attention and be caught?" 

"Sometimes it's easier to hide in plain sight." Laurent glanced pointedly around them at the room full of people who had all looked closely at Laurent, many of them covetously, and yet none of whom had recognised him as royalty despite the fact that he was dressed in relatively expensive fabrics and held himself with the bearing of a king. This place was more upscale than some of the inns on the road, no doubt, but not so much that Laurent would have come close to blending in among its patrons, even if one discounted the fact that his face would still have drawn every eye even if he were a pauper. It was likely only the fact that they had made it widely known that they travelled as assistants to the richly-dressed Veretian merchant who himself stood out from the rest like a peacock among turkeys that saved them from having people question their presence. Hiding in plain sight indeed.

"Still, it will be hard to duplicate those," Damen warned. Laurent had told him the details of his plan while they'd been lazing in the bath earlier. Or rather, some of them; Damen wasn't foolish enough to think that Laurent ever told him absolutely everything on his mind. "And we won't have much time to do so, since our men should catch up with us here tomorrow night at the latest, for they'll ride full out once the message arrives."

Flippantly, Laurent said, "That's plenty of time."

Apparently it was indeed enough time, at least for Laurent, who Damen had long since realised could organise miracles when he put his mind to it. By the time the guards who'd been accompanying them towards Marlas showed up, there were five orange wagons waiting for them to convey Charls's wares inside as their Prince and King directed. While they did so, Damen and Laurent themselves retired to their rooms for the night.

The inn was not expensive enough for the bed to be particularly comfortable, but it was still preferable to the wagon floor. And it was made a thousand times better by being able to press Laurent deep into the mattress and to sink into him in turn, not the way he would have had he been allowed during Laurent's heat, but slowly, reverently. Damen wished every night for the rest of his life could end like that, with Laurent's breaths slowly evening out against Damen's bare chest until it was obvious that he was asleep, feeling safe enough in Damen's arms that he didn't even stir when Damen adjusted his position so he could find sleep himself.

Damen acknowledged in the moments before his consciousness slipped away that if he could always have this, it would be enough, even if Laurent decided he never wanted more between them. It was already more than he probably deserved.

They woke for an early morning departure, and Charls was stunned to find his goods inside newer and flashier transport. He was also surprised to find half a dozen soldiers now waiting to accompany them to keep them safer on the road (the remaining half of the men having been instructed to haul Ragenard to Marlas and deliver a message for Nikandros to have him questioned and locate his co-conspirators). But although Charls once again tried to convince them that he needed no further gifts, it didn't escape Damen's notice that Charls didn't actually claim that he didn't want any of what was on offer. Five individual wagons, each with their own horses, could travel far faster than a train of wagons hooked together and drawn from the front, and Damen had been led to believe that most travelling trades were heavily dependent on how quickly merchants could make it to their destinations. And it must also be easier to act as a successful salesman with an eye-catching caravan of wagons to initially snare the buyers' interest, he figured.

"How can you afford all of this?" Charls asked.

"We run a rather large estate," said Laurent. "And it will be little enough payment for letting us accompany you so that we might reach Marlas in time for the Ascension as well, if you'll consent to us continuing to travel with you."

Confused, Charls suggested, "Surely you and Lamen could find a cheaper and quicker route than that?"

"Ah, but I've never been as far as Aegina," Laurent said. "I think I'd enjoy seeing the countryside. If you don't mind."

Charls was quick to agree and to thank them effusively for the gifts, before turning to talk to Guilliame to make sure the wagons were ready to travel.

"'Lamen'?" Damen asked once he and Laurent were once again more or less alone.

"It's what I told him your name was," Laurent said smugly. 

"And what are you to be called then? Daurent?" 

"No," Laurent said more soberly. "I told him my name was Auguste. It became popular for Veretian lords to name their sons as such after my brother was born, so it's probably the most common name among nobles around my age. Frankly, in any high-ranking family short of my own, it would have been bizarre for a child born with blond hair and blue eyes, at a time when my brother was beginning to gain a reputation as a handsome future warrior, to _not_ be named for the golden Crown Prince. No one will question it, and it would be impossible to trace it to any particular family to try to disprove my identity. Not to mention that it's easy enough to remember to respond to it."

Even though he doubted Laurent had chosen it on purpose to hurt him or drive a wedge between them, Damen couldn't claim that it didn't make him feel slightly sick to think of hearing Auguste's name constantly bandied about for the next couple of weeks or so, particularly with Laurent right there in the midst of it, a reminder. But he wasn't entirely certain he had the right to comment. It would always be a hard subject between them; one that Damen couldn't claim to be adept at navigating.

However, the name Auguste combined with Laurent's high-born attitude (and probably his looks as well, Damen thought darkly), framed within the opulent merchants' wagons, did seem to convince everyone, rightly so, that Laurent was someone of import. Thus, doors were opened for them where they apparently would have been closed to Charls the cloth merchant. And lips also seemed to be unsealed, for Laurent arrived back at their sides bearing much more information about the nearby slave trader masquerading as a legal merchant than the kinds of things they'd heard whispered in Ios or Marlas. 

The man, Makon, was apparently closer than they'd expected, given their delay, and thus an alteration in course would allow them to intercept him. Charls didn't protest the change in plan, apparently too mortified at his recent loss of reputation to insist on trying to continue on his planned trade path. For all that Damen didn't like having another alpha around, especially one who acted like a companion rather than a subject towards Laurent, Damen was still angered by the false rumours on Charls's behalf. How dare Makon try to dishonestly ruin a man's livelihood in Damen's name? Thankfully, he knew Laurent well enough to be aware that his plans would entail not just restoring Charls's good reputation, but bettering it.

Even if not for Makon spreading potentially career-ending lies and trafficking Damen's subjects into Patras in contravention of the laws he and Laurent had recently enacted, Damen found upon arriving at Kalamos that he would still have hated Makon on sight. The man gave Laurent a lazy but clearly interested once-over and smiled proprietarily at him, and Damen had to fight very hard (and have Laurent place his palm over Damen's knuckles) not to put his fist in the man's face.

"You're younger than I expected," Makon said, "and even prettier."

It was clear to Damen – and to Laurent, obviously – that Laurent had been recognised. But there was no indication that Makon had equally seen through Damen, despite the fact that Damen rather than Laurent should have been more familiar to the citizens of Akielos. Damen supposed that his appearance, including his clothing, was less strikingly unique in this region of Akielos than Laurent's. And, of course, the lack of recognition probably had something to do with Makon's eyes having barely strayed from Laurent since he'd seen him. He might have noticed Damen more if Damen had issued the cautionary growl that was building in his chest, but he managed to contain himself.

Though his resolve was sorely tested when Makon added, "I think it might even be worth it to risk my King's ire to have you on your back."

Oh, Damen thought, he wasn't going to be able to wait for the official execution this man otherwise would have earned himself by flouting their laws. Even without him laying a finger on Laurent, Damen was tempted to tell Makon to pick up a sword so that they could duel to the death – Makon's death, of course – right here and now.

But it was Charls, not Damen, who spoke up in response to Makon's words. "That is hardly appropriate. Auguste is married!" Charls said, clearly scandalised.

Makon's eyes flicked to Charls, and back to Laurent, and it seemed it didn't escape Makon that Charls was unaware of Laurent's true identity. He gave Charls a smile that suggested he knew something Charls didn't, which would have been true even if he hadn't recognised Laurent as the Prince of Vere, for Charls also had no idea of Makon's criminal activities.

"Auguste, is it? Of course it would be." With the long-bred entitlement of a relatively handsome alpha who knew he wouldn't be punished for stepping over the line, Makon continued pointedly, "I find that marriage is hardly an insurmountable obstacle." And then, after a long pause, he added, "Used goods can still be valuable, you see." 

He was obviously counting on the fact that Laurent didn't want to make his status known, and therefore wouldn't try to have him whipped for the insult. Damen felts no such compunctions restraining him from acting. 

Laurent's hand hooked into his elbow, apparently leading him somewhere, did stop him though. Damen's rage muted everything else, so he didn't hear the rest of what was said. He only heard Laurent's instruction, "Calm yourself," when they arrived at what must have been the rooms that had been prepared for their stay.

"I will kill him," Damen promised. 

"Not yet," Laurent said. "We still don't know the trading route that we must cut off. And it will do no one any good if the people of our countries start hearing stories about us murdering supposedly innocent traders who are just going about their business. We must wait."

"No one who knew what he'd just said to you would deny my right to slay him where he stands."

"No alpha, perhaps," Laurent said. "The rest of us don't empathise with that neanderthal mentality quite so much. Don't fear; Makon will receive exactly what he deserves, soon enough."

Damen did admit that he enjoyed Laurent thoroughly trouncing Makon in a mental battle, proving that he was far more than a pretty omega to be counted out except for the monetary value he might have drawn under other circumstances. Though Damen didn't at all enjoy Laurent's expression, which everyone else would have probably interpreted as flat coldness where Damen knew better, when Makon retaliated and one of the horses – nearly all of them, if Damen hadn't happened to notice what was happening – paid for it.

Laurent's soothing hand running over the horse's neck was soft. Damen hoped that his own hand on Laurent's shoulder was no less comforting.

Thankfully, their next stop on the road was less sombre, though certainly not less eventful. Laurent clearly revelled in the chaos that Damen had at least partly caused and that Laurent had played a part in escalating. Damen was actually just a bit surprised that for once his battle for Laurent's honour had nothing to do with Laurent being disrespected because he was an omega. Though he wasn't exactly pleased that his people weren't all as accepting of the prospective combining of their kingdoms as Damen and Laurent's courts were (at least to their faces, anyway). But it wasn't unexpected, especially further north, where tensions had always been higher. It would take time and effort to truly unify their nations. Damen was more than willing to expend those things as necessary, as long as Laurent was right there doing the same at his side.

They somehow came out of their clash with another companion. At least he seemed to be harmless enough, and of good spirits despite the events of the night, and Damen was particularly glad to find that he was a beta. Laurent laughed when Damen wondered aloud if he, at least, might have had some idea how to prepare the dead rabbit that Damen had somehow found thrust into his hand for skinning.

"Doubtful," Laurent said. "He has people to do that for him just as we do. I would have thought that under the current circumstances you might have been more attuned to the signs of someone pretending at a lower class to hide their identity, but you always do take things at face value, don't you?" 

"You're not claiming he's snuck into our group as a spy?" Damen said, frowning. He surely wasn't _that_ bad a judge of character.

"No," Laurent said, "I would hardly have had him join our group if he was."

Damen didn't doubt that, actually, Laurent would have happily invited a spy among them as long as it suited his purposes, but he nonetheless took Laurent at his word and himself at his instincts that Alexon was more or less safe from suspicion.

The man certainly seemed genuine enough when he toasted to the joining of their countries, which Damen found heartening after just having seen other men of this region apparently enraged at the perceived encroachment of Vere on Akielos. 

It was just as well they'd taken him in, it turned out, for Alexon turned out to be exactly as useful as Laurent must have anticipated he could be when Laurent had engineered the fight that resulted in him travelling with them. (Damen had to wonder how Laurent could have picked out Heiron's son without ever having met him or having reason to know that he was even out travelling, incognito or otherwise, in the area, but Laurent would never reply when Damen inquired about that except to give Damen a superior smile).

Having discovered the pathway that Makon intended to use this far and onwards over the border, which they had to assume would be favoured by other slavers as well, it was an easy thing to swap the wagons as Laurent had planned and drive off with Makon's before he, and his customers, could discover later that day that he was towing mostly-empty transports instead of what he'd expected. Damen was annoyed that he couldn't visit justice on the man himself, but knowing that it had inevitably taken place at another's hands would have to be enough for him.

Despite the fact that up until then he'd seemed to have missed every available clue that Laurent and Damen's identities clearly weren't what they'd implied, Charls was still apparently quick enough on the uptake to realise that none of this could really have been a coincidence, given Laurent's strangely specific acquisition of orange wagons and their insistence on taking a particular path to coincide with Makon's.

"You knew?" Charls asked them. "And you planned for this?"

Laurent let his silence provide the answer.

"But why involve yourselves at all?" 

"We have a vested interest in the safety of these people, and any who might follow," Laurent answered as he watched the slaves – now ex-slaves – being attended to by their men. The royal guard had been sent for and, under their watch, these slaves would eventually be conveyed to Marlas to join an ever-growing cadre of similarly mistreated individuals, whom Laurent had taken it upon himself to see cared for.

"You're a very mysterious couple," Charls, bemused, told Damen as Laurent broke his unaffected façade long enough to speak softly to an omega slave who seemed scared of the alpha guards, for all that he'd still been forcing himself to act compliantly with them. Charls continued, "Almost nothing about you adds up. But your husband assures me that you're not involved in illegal activity, and you're clearly not in favour of slavery, so I suppose the fact that you're of good character is all that really matters."

"I have no doubt the mystery will be solved soon enough, when you see us again," Damen assured him. "We're going to Marlas as well, remember."

"There will be thousands and thousands of people from two different nations, plus probably some interested parties from Vask and Patras, there for the Ascension," Charls said. "There's certainly no guarantee that we'll run into each other."

"Trust me. You'll see us."

In line with Damen's promise, Laurent did, in fact, organise to issue an official invitation from the soon-to-be King of Vere to Charls the cloth merchant, asking him to a private meeting after the Ascension. They couldn't be sure that Charls wouldn't write it off as a prank, but even if he did, it almost wouldn't matter. If nothing else, the gossip that Charls had been called before the two Kings of the alliance would have his business quickly booming, probably beyond what he could ever hope to handle between just himself and Guilliame. 

Sending that message was the first thing they did when they arrived inside the palace at Marlas, before other concerns could push that issue to the side. The second thing that happened once they'd stepped through the doors was that Nicaise was literally shoved at them. Damen, somewhat unwillingly, caught Nicaise so he wouldn't stumble to the ground, and – not unexpectedly – he immediately got a kick to the shins for his troubles. Damen clenched his teeth and tried to pretend that it hadn't hurt.

"I see you've had a good time together," Laurent remarked.

"Never again," Nikandros told both of them, sounding even more harried than usual. "Take him with you next time. Or send him across the ocean never to return, preferably. But whatever you decide, I refuse to spend another month having to fend off people daily attempting to stab him or at least forcibly tape his mouth shut."

"You'd have been bored without me there," Nicaise claimed. 

"I don't even know what boredom is," Nikandros countered.

Damen ignored them in favour of watching Laurent's smile slowly grow stronger and stronger in force as he watched them bickering. He couldn't help but lean forward and kiss Laurent's curling lips.

"Ugh, really?" Nicaise said, sounding disgusted. "I thought you would have got this out of your systems, considering you just ran off for a month-long sex vacation."

"It wasn't a sex vacation," Damen said truthfully, for he would personally have appreciated a _lot_ more time spent in bed with Laurent than what had actually occurred. "We were busy."

"I bet you were," Nicaise sneered.

"Nikandros," Damen said formally, "please vacate the room, and take Nicaise with you. We've spent quite a long time on the road and are in dire need of some rest now that we're finally home."

"Yeah right. 'Rest'," said Nicaise.

Nikandros's expression suggested that he didn't believe it any more than Nicaise did, but although he flinched (probably at the idea of any more time alone in Nicaise's presence), he simply said, "Yes, Exalted."

Damen would have felt bad for his best-friend-turned-Kyros, but Laurent wasted no time in thoroughly distracting him from thoughts of anyone else.

In fact, he found that he barely paid attention to anyone or anything but Laurent until the Ascension was well and truly over. If Laurent as a Prince without a kingdom had caught Damen's notice, and Laurent as a soon-to-be-King taking on more and more of his own authority had made Damen's heart swell with pride, then Laurent standing tall as a King in his own right was dazzling.

It was probably a good thing, then, that in Damen's days of distraction during and immediately following the Ascension, they managed to put off having to meet with all but the kyroi, who Damen had insisted needed to swear themselves to Laurent just as they had to Damen, and a range of Veretian lords whose support would also be necessary to more firmly institute the alliance of their two kingdoms in the Veretian territories. 

But there was still one other person they did have to see, at Laurent's invitation. 

At least Damen found that he was no longer anywhere near as bothered by the man's presence as he had been when they'd come across him just after and then again during Laurent's heats.

"Auguste!" Charls greeted in surprise when he walked into the room and spotted them. "And Lamen as well! You know, I wondered if you were somehow connected to the royal guard, after you saved those slaves, but I still never dreamed you would be part of the King's personal retinue!"

But Damen could tell that rather than his supposed discovery making sense of things for him, Charls was growing more and more confused as he took everything in. After all, Damen and Laurent were clearly not dressed as guards, or even as Councillors; they still unmistakably looked like royalty despite having chosen to forego their respective crown and laurel this evening. And there was no sign of anyone else in the room who might reasonably fit the description of the two Kings with whom Charls had been assured a personal meeting.

Though that wasn't to say that they were now actually alone in the room with only Charls, sadly.

"Is he stupid?" Nicaise asked from where he was lounging (uninvited, Damen had to stress) in the corner of the room, frank and offensive as ever. "What is he even talking about? He must have been under a rock for seven years if he seriously thinks you're your brother. And who the fuck is _Lamen_?"

Charls looked at Nicaise, and then his eyes slid, considering, to Laurent. He apparently picked out their near-matching eyes and drew his conclusions from there, for he remarked to Damen, too loudly for the others not to also overhear, "Your husband has a magnificence unaffected by time. I'd never have dreamed that he could be old enough to have a son who's just a few short years from adulthood!" He said nothing about the fact that Damen, who would have been twelve years old at best when Nicaise was born, couldn't possibly have been close to old enough to have fathered an adolescent boy either. Damen wanted to be offended by that, but then wisely decided not to comment, lest Laurent answer his complaints with a few choice scathing remarks; after all, Damen had been candid enough about his past that Laurent was aware of the experience Damen had been eagerly accruing when he'd been barely older than Nicaise himself.

"My apologies," Laurent said. It was probably one of the few times in his life that he'd even suggested that he might be sorry, let alone meant it. "Under the circumstances, we couldn't properly introduce ourselves to you until now. This," he said, pointing at Damen, "is King Damianos of Akielos. And I've recently been crowned as King Laurent of Vere and Acquitart."

There was a long pause as Charls processed this. His expression told Damen that his mind was near to imploding in response to the discordance between this new information and his previous understanding and experience. Damen could tell the moment that he came back to his senses, for despite being a man of forty years, Charls bent at the waist so abruptly that Damen feared he would break something.

"Your Majesties," Charls said, still with his face pointing firmly down towards the ground in a deep bow, "I have not treated you with the due respect –"

"You treated us better than we could have asked, despite not knowing who we were," Laurent disagreed. "We're very thankful."

Charls had a visibly obvious moment of dawning comprehension. "But on the road near Nesson, and again before we went to Aegina, you were –"

"You understand, I'm sure, that we would appreciate your discretion," Laurent interrupted again, calmly.

"Of course. I… I see. This alliance has been quite a long time in the making, hasn't it?" Charls said, his voice still distant and shocked. He looked at Nicaise yet again, puzzled.

"Not quite _that_ long," Damen said wryly. "He's Laurent's ward, of sorts, not his son."

"I'm his pet, actually," Nicaise corrected. "Don't try and dress it up with pretty ribbons so that he comes out smelling like roses. Call it what it is."

"You're a pet in name only, for your own protection," Damen countered. "Trust me, Laurent would laugh at the thought of paying you to spend time fawning over him at court, the way other pets do."

"True enough. He's far more likely to insult me outright than pretend to favour me," Laurent added helpfully.

"You're just jealous that you're not enough for him on your own," Nicaise sniped at Damen.

Damen had, truthfully, found himself experiencing feelings of jealousy towards many people, and many things, in the past, and it had happened a lot more frequently than ever before once he'd met Laurent. But it had never once occurred to him to be jealous of Nicaise. Even if not for Damen's knowledge of Laurent's character, that by itself would have convinced Damen that Laurent's fears about himself being anything like his uncle were dead wrong. He hoped that Laurent would come to see that in time, just as he had come to accept that many other things that he'd believed about himself and their societies were not necessarily true.

Ignoring Nicaise – which was a feat that few men were capable of, and one which Damen wished he could emulate – Charls said to his King, "I have heard from many men who fear that the alliance of Vere and Akielos may be temporary; a farce of either politics or fleeing emotions that will fall through soon enough. But although I wouldn't dream of speaking out of turn, I would ask your permission to tell everyone I meet that I know for a fact that the Kings of Vere and Akielos are so truly in love that the alliance must surely last forever."

Damen looked to Laurent, slightly trepidatious, for Laurent had yet to really acknowledge that 'forever' could be a certainty between them.

But Laurent, with a tiny smile, said, "Yes. You have my permission. I would like for as many of our people as possible to understand our intentions as well as you seem to."

Damen thought that his own resulting grin might also last forever.


End file.
